


Crystals Speak to Me

by oswinosgoodsscarf



Series: Shapeshifty household demon [1]
Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Bonding, Gen, Shapeshifting, delia is remarkably chill about sneaky home invasion, sort of how beetlejuice returns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25242589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oswinosgoodsscarf/pseuds/oswinosgoodsscarf
Summary: Delia was the first one to notice someone in the house (she is in tune with the universe, after all), but decides to give him a second chance.OR:Delia spends a lot of time talking to random household objects and Lydia gets her BFFFFF back.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Delia Deetz
Series: Shapeshifty household demon [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1898524
Comments: 19
Kudos: 123





	Crystals Speak to Me

**Author's Note:**

> I needed more Delia & Beej bonding fics in my life so I guess I wrote my own. Enjoy.

It was a normal day in the Deetz-Maitland household when Delia walked into her study and froze. As someone attuned to the universe, she was used to the vibes of this specific room being very predictable: after all, essentially no one lingered there, only ever popping quickly to a have word if needed, and Delia cleansed it regularly to maximize the usefulness of her meditations. Today, however, the room felt... off, in a way she had difficulty articulating. She hums, slightly unnerved.

"That's strange, I wonder why it feels so-" _off_ was what she was about to say, but the rest of the sentence escaped her as she stared down the intrusion and the most likely source of the unbalanced vibes.

The rug that was lying innocently next to her yoga mat was small but plush, with a striped pattern broken up by flecks of moss green. The Maitlands would have called it garish, Charles would've shrugged and deferred to her opinion, and Lydia... well. Considering who this rug reminded her of, Delia wasn't quite sure how she'd react.

"Well hello there, I don't remember you being there yesterday."

The rug's appearance didn't change drastically (though the formerly green specks were suddenly a blueish purple), but it took on a decidedly panicked and guilty air.

Ah.

Delia had a choice here; kick out the intruder who already had... complicated relationships with the rest of the household, or let it go. Staring at the non-threatening, anxious throw rug tucked away in a side room and comparing the current situation to that of her memories from the business dinner and the farce of a wedding, the choice was simple for her.

"I appreciate the less destructive entrance. I'm going to meditate now, but if you want some company later, feel free to find me if I'm awake and not otherwise busy."

She watched the flecks glow bright green, the rug now radiating waves of excitement. As she moved to sit on her yoga mat, she sincerely hoped that she was making the right decision.

The next day, after she audibly commented to her new rug on how there were so many bugs in the basement and it would be so wonderful if they were taken care of, Delia found the entire house to be pest-free aside from a smug rug. The same did not happen when she talked about the spiders in the cupboard, but she still took it as a win. 

* * *

Beetlejuice didn't always keep the same shape: over the next few weeks, Delia found herself talking to plants, crystals (a form which both parties enjoyed utilizing), pots, coat hangers, frog statues; he once even made an appearance as a sleep paralysis nightmare to complain about the arrogance of mosquitoes (the next morning she could be seen gently telling off a sad cactus because while she appreciated his company, she also needs sleep).

And talk they did. Delia found the demon to be a surprisingly good conversation partner, especially once he mustered up the courage to start talking back. He humored her when she talked about crystal properties, and whenever she started telling stories about her life, he never interrupted or looked at her weirdly; actually, Beetlejuice could always be counted on to go toe-to-toe with her in the weird life story department, and she spent quite a few afternoons enjoying the demon's company, sometimes forgetting to be secretive about her new hobby around the other members of the household.

The first time she was caught talking to a seemingly inanimate object, she nervously rattled off some explanation of using it as a way to more easily sort her thoughts, which was readily accepted and left her to talk to Beetlejuice in peace. (The fact that her first husband would've called her crazy while Charles just smiled and kissed her temple, quipping about her big, beautiful brain warmed her heart.) The rug, previously flecked with bright green, had turned a washed out bile yellow, only fading back into green in increments when, once alone again, Delia restarted the conversation. The lengths Beetlejuice was going to in order to avoid the rest of the household had not been lost on Delia, but as she absentmindedly patted the rug, she started to mull over ways to heal that. 

She started with Lydia, naturally. Despite the everything that happened afterwards, she did have the strongest bond with him and still looked back at their time haunting the house fondly. Delia did her best to be subtle ("Oh, what do you think of green for the walls in here? I think we need more green in the house", "That's such a lovely pillow, Lydia! I'm glad to see you're breaking up the black with some white stripes!" "You know, sometimes a few pranks liven up the energy of the house, you're right."), but Delia soon found the teen in a staring contest with a pencil one day, and after a few weeks of holing up in her room, from which low voices (and, on occasion, crying) could be heard and no new household items popped up, Lydia soon picked up Delia's habit of talking to innocuous household items. She laughed more than than before, and it gave the two something to talk about. It was a strange bonding time, but Delia definitely took advantage of this opportunity to spend time with her step-daughter (and her BFFFF).

Charles was next because, really, she couldn't keep a secret from her _husband_ for long; not talking about something is one thing, but when specifically asked? She crumbled when he asked her if she knew why Lydia was both skulking around the quieter corners of the house (usually a bad sign) while seeming happier and lighter, seemingly a contradiction for her. The news of their newest household member didn't go over well at first, to put it mildly, (she knew he was only mostly over what happened; he still had the occasional nightmare of Lydia, scared and alone in the Netherworld, of a knife forever about to impale him-) but Charles was, beneath his serious exterior, surprisingly able to go with the flow and embrace the strange and unusual. He needed a bit of time to mull over his plan, but soon enough he was lecturing the light fixture next to the stairs on the house rules. After that, Delia noticed Beetlejuice lurking, disguised in the kitchen every morning, conveniently in range for Charles to nod a good morning greeting before reading his morning newspaper.

Which left the Maitlands.

Despite the myriad of colorways present when the subject was brought up (mostly bile yellow, white and purple), Delia was determined to air out the truth and make room for the harmonic energies that the dispelling of secrets brought with it. The trick was figuring out how to (quickly) let the ghost couple know that the demon Charles was the one to suggest a strategic deployment of Lydia, one of their favorite people on the planet, to minimize shouting. Delia was all for it, and made her joy at his cleverness and willingness to help _very_ clear.

Their resident ghosts were probably the hardest sell of the household (Delia could hardly blame them, with everything they went through) and while she gave the three of them privacy to work through things in their own time without outside interference, she overheard a lot of grovelling on Beetlejuice's end. In the end, it was agreed that he could stay, considering the length of time he'd been around without leaving a wake of destruction in his path, albeit with pretty strict rules in a sort of trial period.

Delia may have heard Beetlejuice gripe about the situation, but she also saw how he applied himself to the challenge with badly-hidden desperation. (She had the feeling that he'd never gotten many second chances, or even first chances). He was certainly no model citizen, but it was obvious that he was trying, and tensions eased the more time elapsed and he continued to try to be better; the rules evolved and changed, and everyone relaxed into the new normal, realizing it's permanence.

* * *

Gradually, Beetlejuice settled into the household for real, understanding that this was real, and permanent, and home. But every so often he would get overwhelmed and Delia would inevitably stumble across a household object she'd never seen there, striped and stressed, and she would quietly start thinking aloud until he felt safe again.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed reading! If you did, please leave a comment or kudos! :D


End file.
